Talking about Single Cabins and Talking with the Senior Officers of Ventura

When I sat down with Captain Alistair Clark, Executive Purser David Sheperd and Cruise Director Leon de Ste. Croix, and asked them to talk about Ventura, the word that kept coming up was “choice.” Ventura is designed to offer guests choices so that the guests can shape the cruise experience so that it suits their needs and tastes. This “choice factor” cuts across entertainment, dining, accommodations and activities. The ship is not based upon the principle “one size fits all.”

One also sees this choice factor across the P&O fleet. While some of the major cruise lines seek to have each of their ships resemble each other as closely as possible so as to maintain brand continuity, P&O has a markedly different set of ships. It is not just that the fleet has large, small and medium sized ships, but there are adults-only and family-friendly ships, traditional/more formal ships and contemporary/more casual ships. Again, this allows the passenger to select the cruise experience that is most suited to him or her.

Unifying all of this is an overall P&O flavor and way of doing things. When you step aboard a P&O ship, you know it is a P&O ship.
Our discussion about Ventura is posted at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-interview.html

Because Ventura does present an array of dining choices, I thought it would be helpful to write an article that gives an overview of the various dining venues on the ship. To help me on this, I asked Food and Beverage Manager Alasdair Ross to give a brief introduction to each of the venues. That article appears at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-dining.html

Changing topics, this year’s crop of new ships includes two ships that have single-occupancy cabins. For the last decade or so, the prevailing attitude in the industry was that single-occupancy cabins were uneconomical and had no place on a modern cruise ship. Every cabin had to accommodate at least two people. As a result, solo travelers had to pay a single supplement that was sometimes twice the per person rate for a double-occupancy cabin.

Now, however, going against this common-wisdom both P&O’s Azura and Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Epic have included some single-occupancy cabins in addition to the typical mix of suites and double-occupancy cabins. Neither line is charging a single supplement for these cabins.

Why did these lines do this and is this the start of something new? I asked several cruise line executives to comment including Carol Marlow, Managing Director of P&O, Dan Hanrahan, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises and Peter Shanks, Managing Director of Cunard. The article is posted at: http://www.beyondships.com/Cruise-articles-singles.html

New Photos and Information about P&O Cruises' Ventura

When I was in England, I had the opportunity to revisit P&O’s Ventura. This ship went into service in 2008 and was at the time the largest cruise ship dedicated specifically for the British market. The onboard atmosphere is designed to appeal to contemporary British tastes in the décor, entertainment dining and activities. Accordingly, Ventura attracts primarily British passengers and those who enjoy the British lifestyle.

The ship itself is a sister ship to Princess Cruises’ Grand class ships and is the fulfillment of a long-held desire for the line. P&O used to be the owner of Princess Cruises and seeing how successful the Grand Princess was for its subsidiary, P&O long planned to add one to its fleet. It even went so far as to place an order for one with Fincantieri but it always made more sense strategically to allocate these ships to Princess. Indeed, the one that was first ordered for P&O became Caribbean Princess.

Now with two years of service under her belt, Ventura has shown that the Grand-class works in the British market. As a large ship, she is able to give holidaymakers an array of choices in activities, dining and entertainment. While she has many of the features of her Princess sisters, she is not a mere clone. The décor, while contemporary, is slightly more subdued. The specialty restaurants are geared more toward the British palate.

I took Ventura from Southampton up into the Norwegian fjords. The scenery there is most spectacular with tall mountains rising thousands of feet up from the water’s edge. It is also a varied cruise involving calls in remote villages and calls in cities. I have posted a photo essay showing Ventura in some of these spots. http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Norway.html

I have also updated and expanded the Beyondships’ profile and photo tour of Ventura. In addition to numerous new photos, there are new daily programs, menus, and more information about the ship. The profile page is at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Profile.html and the photo tour begins at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Tour-1.html There is also a new page of photo tour that focuses on the ship’s main galley. http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-galley.html

Talking with the Managing Director of P&O Cruises

When I was in England, I had the opportunity to speak with Carol Marlow, the Managing Director of P&O Cruises. Carol came to this post after heading Cunard Line for several years and she kindly agreed to answer some questions about the difference between the two iconic British passenger lines and about some of the challenges facing P&O.

P&O is in the enviable position of being the public’s favorite cruise line in a rapidly growing market. However, the other major cruise lines have realized the potential of the British market and several have entered it in a big way. How does the home team respond?

In order to meet the growing demand for cruise holidays, P&O has grown the capacity of its fleet by adding new ships. However, as a result, the fleet is now composed of ships that differ widely in size, age and style. How does one ensure the qualities that made P&O popular are maintained through this larger and more disparate fleet?

Ms. Marlow’s answers to these questions as well as her thoughts on the new Azura and the upcoming replacement of the Artemis by the Adonia are posted at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-art-Marlow.html

Carnival Victory and P&O's Ventura

Periodically, cruise ships have to go in for a refit in which new features are added and the ship is given an overall sprucing up in order to bring her in line with the most recent ships in the line’s fleet. So too with the sections of the Beyondships website. Every so often they have to be updated to keep current with the ship that they are about and to keep them consistent with the profiles that have been added to the site recently.

This week, the Carnival Victory section of the Beyondships website has come out of a refit. Quite a few new photos have been added as well as a new set of Carnival Capers (daily programs) and a new set of menus. In addition, the Carnival Victory section has been re-organized along the lines of the other Carnival sections of the site. The new Carnival Victory section begins at: http://www.beyondships.com/CARNIVALVICTORY.html

I had a very interesting talk about the upcoming Carnival Dream with ship architect Joe Farcus recently. His interior design work on the other Carnival ships has been very creative and so I was interested in finding out what he is seeking to achieve on Carnival Dream. I’m putting our conversation into an article that will be posted in September in honor of Dream’s entry into service next month.

Meanwhile, I have posted a photo essay about P&O’s Ventura on the site. http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Barbados.html Ventura is a mega-cruise ship built upon a design that can be traced back to Princess Cruises’ Grand Princess. Intended for the British market, Ventura spends most of her year sailing from Southampton, England. However, in the winter months, she sails from the former British colony Barbados It was there on a bright sunny day with puffy white clouds overhead that I found Ventura along with several other cruise ships including sister ship Emerald Princess. The essay shows Ventura from different angles alone and together with her companions.

Ventura - - Designed to be British

For ten years, ships of the Grand Princess-class have been the mainstay of the Princess Cruises fleet. There are now eight Princess ships based on this design in service and another one will join the fleet in the fall. They have proved very popular and conducive to Princess’ objective of providing passengers with “American-style luxury.”

This year, for the first time, a ship built on the Grand Princess design went into service for a line other than Princess Cruises. The other line was Princess’ one time parent company and now sister company under the Carnival Corporation umbrella, P&O Cruises. Moreover, while the previous ships have been used to provide American style cruising, Ventura was built specifically for the British market.

What exactly does designing a ship for Britain mean? Is it posting a picture of the Queen in the atrium and having everything else remain the same as on the Princess ships? Is it decorating the public rooms in British cliches like an English gentleman’s club or a Cockney pub? Neither.

Instead, it means creating an atmosphere that appeals to British tastes. The interior design is done in a contemporary style but there is no neon or theme park-type decoration. Some seven thousand works of art done by British artists or artists living and working in Britain adorn the ship. Thus, the atmosphere is more restrained and intellectual.

The themes of the public rooms reflect places British people like to go. For example, many U.K. residents like to holiday in Spain. Accordingly, there is a large Spanish-style restaurant and bar. British cruisers are not as interested in casinos as their American cousins, so the casino is smaller and more low-key.

Differences in the climate are also taken into account. It is normally cooler and rainier in Britain than in America. Therefore, it makes sense for a cruise ship operating in British waters to have a retractable glass dome over one of the swimming pools. For the same reason, a large movies-under-the-stars screen is not as attractive for such a ship as for a ship operating in American waters.

Walking around Ventura, I was continually struck by the differences between this ship and her American sisters. Yes, the floor plan is much the same. However, P&O have successfully taken that floor plan and geared it toward the market it serves, i.e., the British cruise market. Thus, while Ventura is a sister to the other Grand class ships, she is not a mere clone. Rather, she is a ship with a distinct personality.

My photo tour of Ventura is at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Tour-1.html and the ship profile is at http://www.beyondships.com/PO-Ventura-Profile.html